A Changed Attitude Gives Assurance

This change of attitude gives me heart assurance that I am now a child of God by a second birth. Nothing else can properly explain the subduing of my once proud will, and my earnest desire to obey the commandments of God as set forth in His Word.
I hope none will be so foolish as to suppose that John's use of the word "commandments" has reference simply to the Ten Words given at Sinai. It goes far beyond that. The righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. But over and above this we have the commandments of our Lord Jesus Christ, embracing all that He taught while He was here on earth as to the behavior of His disciples; and also that which He has since revealed by His Spirit, as set forth in the New Testament Scriptures. The regenerated man longs to do those things that please his Lord; and as he walks in obedience, that divine love which was shown in all its perfection at the cross wells up in his own heart, as Christ becomes increasingly precious the better He is known.
In the second instance, let us consider what is written in 1 John 3:9: "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God." This has puzzled many a careless reader, and even some who are more careful. Satan himself has used it to distress God's dear children, when God meant it to comfort sensitive, conscientious souls. The devil says to such an one, "You know you are not sinless. You frequently fail in thought and word and deed, therefore you commit sin, and so you cannot be a child of God." The troubled mind is inclined to accept this as clear and logical, even when the heart that has trusted Christ rebels against it, and feels instinctively that there is something wrong and fallacious in such reasoning.
It will help us to see that the tense of the verb here is what has been called the "present continuous." It is not a question of occasional, or even of frequent failure, bitterly lamented and grieved over. It rather implies a course of behavior that is characteristic. With this in mind it will be well to go back to verse 6 and read the entire section as given in a critical translation: "Whosoever abideth in Him does not practice sin; whosoever practiceth sin hath not seen Him, neither known Him. Little children, let no man deceive you; he that practiceth righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous. He that practiceth sin is of the devil; for the devil practiceth sin from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy (or annul) the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not practice sin, for His seed remaineth (or abideth) in him and he cannot be practicing sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest and the children of the devil: whosoever cloth not practice righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.”